Growth is at the top of every CEO’s agenda. The first place they should look is at the performance of their sales and marketing organizations. There are always opportunities to improve effectiveness and drive additional growth.

John Deakins leads Alvarez & Marsal's Growth and Customer Service practice in the U.S. which helps companies quickly drive profitable growth through increased marketing and sales effectiveness and improved customer experience. Mr. Deakins has led complex business transformations across industries including manufacturing, apparel, retail and consumer products and services.

Most recently, Mr. Deakins led a sales reorganization for a $3 billion global battery manufacturer, where he developed and implemented a new organizational structure and management consolidation, including new sales coverage models, revised roles, goals and compensation plans.

Earlier, Mr. Deakins served as Chief Revenue Officer for a global computer training services provider, where he executed a sales and marketing restructuring that resulted in significantly improved revenue and profitability across all functional areas.

Previously, Mr. Deakins completed several performance improvement projects for a $1.5 billion global outdoor apparel, footwear and equipment brand, focused on brand positioning, competitive strategy, product portfolio and marketing organizations and activities, which resulted in a restructuring of the European operation and a strategy, marketing and compensation redesign for North America.

Mr. Deakins also conducted pre-acquisition due diligence for a leading private equity firm on a $3 billion advertising company. He and his team provided significant cost reduction and performance improvement recommendations in sales, marketing, sales operations and customer service, involving over 8,000 employees in 150 locations across the United States.

Additionally, Mr. Deakins served as Vice President of Business at a gourmet food and gifting company, where he developed and implemented strategies to enable the B2B division to deliver revenue growth.

Previously, he led a salesforce effectiveness engagement at the largest service provider of integrated environmental solutions in North America. Mr. Deakins also served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the world's foremost consumer sewing company, where he led the North American sales and marketing teams to meet sales and margin targets by repairing dealer relationships and improving sales forecasting and accountability.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Deakins worked for private equity firm Parthenon Capital as Chief Executive Officer of one of its portfolio apparel companies. Earlier, he served for six years as President at Amerex Group, where he led a successful turnaround that delivered the company top market shares in its category. He also held senior sales and marketing management roles at Carters Inc., Warnaco Group and Bugle Boy.

Mr. Deakins earned a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the Association for Corporate Growth.

London – Leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has strengthened its Corporate Performance Improvement (CPI) practice through two senior appointments, Kate Donaldson as Managing Director and Erin Brookes as Head of Retail, Europe.